INTRODUCTION TO WESTPLEX
Westplex is a commercial tiling contractor specialising in commercial developments and refurbishments. Their team of 40 employees work with some of the largest and most respected builders in Australia.
Radi Pelemis, Managing Director for Westplex, was kind enough to talk to us recently about how Payapps has added value to his business.
LIFE BEFORE PAYAPPS
Radi had initially used Payapps a few years ago when working for a builder in NSW and knew the benefits of the system from a builder’s perspective. It wasn’t until Radi started his own subcontracting business in WA that he fully appreciated the benefits of Payapps for subcontractors.
Like many subcontractors, Westplex were preparing progress claims in Excel, then saving them to PDF format and emailing them through to their builder for approval. Whilst this worked, as Radi says, it doesn’t take much to make an error in Excel. And sometimes builders get it wrong, too. This could sometimes take hours of poring through figures and formulas to reconcile different spreadsheets.
GETTING STARTED
Using Payapps has simplified Radi claims processing and saved considerable time. Preparing claims is fast and simple, with no more Excel discrepancies. It gives us a real sense of security that we are claiming the correct values and that everything is accurate, and we are not missing anything. It enables us to track everything.
“IT SAVES A TON OF TIME AND STREAMLINES THE PROCESS. IT GIVES US A REAL SENSE OF SECURITY THAT WE ARE CLAIMING THE CORRECT VALUES AND THAT EVERYTHING IS ACCURATE. IT ENABLES US TO TRACK EVERYTHING.”
Radi Pelemis, Managing Director, Westplex
EASE OF USE
Using Payapps simplified the claim process straight away with builders using Payapps, but there was still the hassle of using his old Excel process for some of his other clients. That changed after a conversation on site with a fellow subcontractor. They were comparing notes on how they manage their respective businesses when the other subcontractor mentioned Payapps standalone, or self-assess mode. This enables a subcontractor to set up a contract in Payapps and manage progress claims even when the builder is not a Payapps user. Using this feature and the integration between Payapps and Xero has simplified and standardised Westplex’s claims processing across the entire business.
STREAMLINED PROCESS
It saves a ton of time and streamlines the process. The more aspects you can streamline and simplify, the better. We are spending less man hours on paperwork and all the triple-checking and reconciling. Having it automatically create invoices in Xero is great.
THE FINAL WORD
We asked Radi if he would be willing to share Westplex’s success in streamlining their claims processes.
I would be more than happy to recommend you guys; it contributes a lot to our business. There are a lot of programs out there that do a lot of stuff, but it is hard to find one that really hits the nail on the head, and Payapps certainly does.
ABOUT PAYAPPS + XERO
Payapps creates invoices automatically on claim submission or approval, with the PDF document attached to the Xero invoice. Each line item claimed against is listed on the Xero invoice, as well as retention and tax, with claim values and retention tracked in the relevant account codes. This keeps your contractual claims correspondence consistent with your accounting records, reducing data entry, eliminating mistakes and giving you the confidence that your cashflow will match your bookkeeping.
